1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc reproduction apparatus which reproduces an image recorded in an optical disc such as blu-ray disc and DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in a field of a portable optical disc reproduction apparatus, there is a known optical disc reproduction apparatus which includes a main body having an optical disc reproduction unit and a liquid crystal display unit for displaying an image reproduced by the optical disc reproduction unit, and the main body and the liquid crystal display unit is rotatably and pivotally connected by a two-axis hinge, that is, the liquid crystal display unit can rotate, open, and close with respect to the main body. Here, “rotation (rotatably)” means horizontal rotation of the liquid crystal display unit, and “pivoting (pivotally)” means back and forth rotation of the liquid crystal display unit (rotating about a rotation axis extending in a horizontal direction). The two-axis hinge has a joint member to the main body in addition to a hinge mechanism, and at least the joint member out of the above members is housed in the main body. Thus, it is necessary to have a space for housing not only the optical disc reproduction unit and a control board but also the joint member of the two-axis hinge in a chassis of the main body in the portable optical disc reproduction apparatus.
Moreover, the portable optical disc reproduction apparatus requires a battery pack. Many of the battery packs are mounted on a back end of the main body in the same manner as the two-axis hinge. Accordingly, in the back end of the main body, the two-axis hinge and the battery back should be efficiently housed in the chassis of the main body to make the portable optical disc reproduction apparatus smaller and thinner.
In some of the above type of apparatuses, a prismatic secondary battery is often used as a secondary battery in the battery pack to house the two-axis hinge and the battery pack in the chassis of the main body efficiently. As shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5 of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-134065 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-165637, there is also a known apparatus in which the battery pack is located avoiding a bottom of the hinge which is located in right and left edges of the back end of the main body, and moreover, as shown in Registered Utility Model No. 3025417 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-76898, there is also a known apparatus in which the battery pack is connected to the back end of the main body.
Although the above apparatus which uses the prismatic secondary battery as the secondary battery in the battery pack can be thin, the prismatic secondary battery is more expensive than a cylindrical secondary battery, so that a production cost of the whole apparatus rises. Moreover, in the inventions described in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5 of Publication No. 11-134065 and Publication No. 2005-165637, the battery pack can be located avoiding the bottom of the hinge when the hinge is located in the right and left edges of the back end of the main body as in the case of using one-axis hinge, however, the battery pack cannot be located avoiding the bottom of the hinge when the hinge is located in a center of the back end of the main body as in the case of using the two-axis hinge. In claim 2 of Publication No. 11-134065, there is a description of providing an applied part of the battery pack on both sides of the main body so that the hinge is located between the applied part, however, when the battery pack having uniform height is located on the both sides of the main body to put the hinge between the battery pack as described in FIG. 5 of Publication No. 11-134065, the battery pack has to be separated into at least two parts. When the battery pack is separated into at least two parts, it is impossible to commonalize a circuit board for charging and discharging the plural secondary batteries in the battery pack, so that a production cost of the whole apparatus rises. Furthermore, as for the apparatus in which the battery pack is connected to the back end of the main body as shown in Registered Utility Model No. 3025417 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-76898, the main body is large in a front/back width, so that the main body gets larger and such an apparatus lacks portability.
In a field of the above type of the apparatus, there is a known apparatus in which the battery pack has a recess along a pivoting axis of a hinge mechanism (an axis about which the hinge mechanism turns) so that at least a part of the hinge mechanism along the pivoting axis is stored in the recess of the battery pack (refer to Japan Patent No. 3407990). However, this type of apparatus can be reduced in thickness for only a part of a diameter of the pivoting axis of the hinge mechanism at most, so that it is possible to reduce a thickness of a portable information processing apparatus provided with the one-axis hinge in which a part of pivoting axis of the hinge mechanism forms a hinge joint member to the main body, however, it is not possible to reduce a thickness of the apparatus provided with the two-axis hinge in which the hinge joint member to the main body is formed separately from the part of the hinge mechanism. Moreover, in this apparatus, the part of pivoting axis of the hinge mechanism is stored in the recess of the battery pack when attaching the battery pack to the main body, so that the battery pack cannot be attached to and detached from the main body in the horizontal direction.